Tag Archives: recommended

Manga Recommendation: Pompo: The Cinéphile

By playerprophet Posted in Books, Comics, Reviews Tagged , ,

No fun screenshots of panels for this recco because I apparently didn’t save any of the PDFs.

I LOVE comics and zines that can entertain me while also teaching me stuff. A good diary comic like My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness can really scratch an itch of introspection, but my favorite are manga that go further in what an industry or hobby is like, such as Manga Diary of a Male Porn Star or the upcoming I’m a Terminal Cancer Patient, but I’m Fine. (I recommend both of these, by the way. I hope you’ll also join me in preordering Kate Beaton’s Ducks as well.)

Pompo: The Cinéphile isn’t a diary comic, but the amount of education involved in its creation is similarly as compelling. It’s a fictionalized tale that ruminates on an industry or culture from someone who clearly knows a thing or two about it. Similar recommendations for this kind of story from Seven Seas would be Blue Giant, BL Metamorphosis (both which will get their own post at a later date), Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games, or even My Brother’s Husband, Tokyo Revengers, or Bride’s Story. Either based in personal experience or thorough education, these books speak like a teacher, and it rules. (At least, I think so.)

If you are into any of the above titles, you might also enjoy Pompo: The Cinéphile, which is a story where the titular Pompo (a producer) starts her assistant, Gene (an aspiring director) on the road of his dreams. The story walks the journey of the creation of a film from casting actors, shooting on location, cutting trailers, and witnessing a complete film as the culmination of all the work done by everyone involved.

It helps that the adaptation of the manga was done by Jay Trust, who I’ve been told is a director in their own right… though it appears they may be doing their manga adaptations under a different pen name than their directorial ones, as I can’t find them anywhere.

If you’re a nerd about filmmaking, I recommend reading Pompo. There are two volumes of the manga released so far and a third one on its way. It’s a dense read, but a joy.

The manga takes place in Nyallywood, which is obviously a fictional stand-in for Hollywood, but there are a lot of funny little Japan things all over the story. This manga has also been made into an animated film, which I haven’t seen! But maybe that is more your speed.

Either way, this is a definite recommendation from me. These are books I’m proud to have in my collection. I hope you check them out.

Manga Spotlight: Level 1 Demon Lord & One-Room Hero

By playerprophet Posted in Books, Comics Tagged ,

Hello all! Long time no post. I started a new full-time job after 35 years of freelance in 2020, and I’m now a Senior Copy Editor at Seven Seas Entertainment! I read manga all day on the lookout for forgotten sound effects and other such things.

I love my job, but I have to read a lot of stuff I don’t like. But it also fires me up because there are a lot of comics I like a lot, and you will probably never read. So I’m going to make these Manga Spotlight posts now and then to highlight really special manga that I think you should check out. Some of these might be NSFW but this one is not. I need everyone to know about Level 1 Demon Lord & One-Room Hero.

I have to read a lot of isekai for work (and if you don’t know what isekai is, that’s a whole other blog post) so one of my favorite new tropes is “playful subversion of isekai and the fantasy genre.” Level 1 Demon Lord is one such book.

Ten years in the past, a classic RPG party went to save the world and killed the demon lord to save the day. The world settled into a comfortable peace, but demons have seven lives. The demon lord awakes ten years since his death, far too early and in an extremely weakened state. He runs off to find the hero that killed him years before to see what kind of future he’s made for himself. Instead, he finds a deadbeat who sleeps all day in his bachelor apartment, a man who has given up on life.

Our hero, Max, is living a regular life in what appears very similar to modern-day Japan, but is still the fantasy land that was saved ten years ago. Our demon lord asks questions and struggles to understand why the hero isn’t living large in the way that he deserves. Max is cagey about answers. It becomes clear before long that the media has taken advantage of Max for his fame, twisting all of his actions into a scandal. He does as little as possible so he can stay out of the spotlight, but with a demon lord in his company, trouble has come to find him again.

This manga is mostly a gross fanservice comedy, but Level 1 Demon Lord doesn’t shy away from inter-country politics, corruption, and the tempestuous relationships of shitty adults who once were friends. It’s a bit about how fame is a double-edged sword, a bit about wrangling with depression and disappointment, and a little bit about how your idols are real people.

Not only that, but there’s a weird little romance going on between the Level 1 Demon Lord & One-Room Hero. Is it gay? The demon lord, when pressed, won’t clarify whether or not he’s a man or not, though he proceeds to present as a woman more and more as the series goes on.

I feel like it’s difficult to express the charm of this series because I’m trying to spoil as little as possible. But I look forward to every volume that passes my desk. It’s one of my favorites. I find the artwork charming and the story funny, and this post-fantasy land is devolving into war and terrorism with neighboring countries. Old allies struggle to get Max to take a stand politically, but he avoids it while also keeping his new allegiance with demons a secret. If the public finds out about the new company he keeps, he will be seen as a traitor to humanity and kick Max while he’s already down.

The stakes are high and hilarious… until they aren’t! Please read Level 1 Demon Lord & One-Room Hero. It rules.

Persona 5 is the JRPG we’ve been waiting for

By playerprophet Posted in Games, Reviews Tagged , , ,

Persona 5 has disgusting portrayals of gay men, and gross camera shots of female characters for fanservice. These aspects (especially the former) I won’t forgive. However, they weren’t enough for me to give up on Persona 5. The work it does in reestablishing what JRPGs can do is, to me, moving. The graphics, the gameplay, and everything that is included in the game justifies the release date delays. It was all worth it. It’s beautiful, it plays well, and most importantly to me: it establishes itself as a part of the larger Persona/SMT canon.

The troubles surrounding the translation is undeniable, and has been talked about at length in game journalism, so I don’t think there’s more I can offer to the conversation. For the sake of sparing spoilers to anyone, here’s a quick rundown:

Bad:

  • Localisation
  • Homophobia
  • Fanservice exploiting the female characters
  • Endless material made to pander to every (straight male) gamer’s fetish

Good:

  • Dungeons each have a unique design to enhance the narrative
  • UI is beautiful, battles are fun and slick
  • Enhances features that characterized the past two Persona games (school days timeline, stat generation)
  • The narrative design and plot arc structure is very good
  • Futaba’s mental illness is dealt with sympathetically and that is incredible

Persona 5 has a finely fabricated mystery. Character’s arcs, plot developments, and major reveals are telegraphed well enough that you can see them coming, but they build suspense. It isn’t perfect, which I believe are caused by how many storylines they juggle at once and the different ways the player might handle them. I don’t feel like I can fault the dev team for that. Writing games is hard.

Persona 5 makes me excited to see where the future of JRPGs is going to go. Anyone who loves RPGs or games should play it, even if you haven’t seen the series before. I feel like it understand what was created here would be an asset in a developer’s arsenal for the future.

As said above, the most I got out of the game was seeing it tie into the lore of it’s predecessors, specifically into the concepts of Persona 2. Although the allusions were vague, I believe the relation was deliberate. I hope to write a post on that in a year, when I don’t have to worry about spoiling anyone.

Persona 5 has been in development for years, but the themes of rebellion and breaking the shackles of society’s expectations appears to be globally relevant. Older SMT fans might be able to turn to Persona 5 to understand the feelings of today’s youth, while millennials like myself may be touched by the sense of worldwide solidarity, like I was. In the end, all we can do is inherit the earth, make it ours, and make it right.